Diagnostic Criteria for Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder

A pervasive pattern of passive resistance to demands for adequate social and occupational performance, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by at least five of the following:

procrastinates, i.e., puts off things that need to be done so that deadlines are not met

becomes sulky, irritable, or argumentative when asked to do something he or she does not want to do

seems to work deliberately slowly or to do a bad job on tasks that he or she really does not want to do

protests, without justification, that others make unreasonable demands on him or her

avoids obligations by claiming to have "forgotten"

believes that he or she is doing a much better job than others think he or she is doing

resents useful suggestions from others concerning how he or she could be more productive

obstructs the efforts of others by failing to do his or her share of the work